Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 149 Feb. 2022 | Page 9

seconds – to this day the biggest improvement ever of a national record for 3000m . Van Zyl , these days still active as Sonja Laxton , beat her nearest rival by considerably more than a minute . In the next six years she would take the record down to 9:06.5 and in 1980 improved to 8:58.90 .

2 March 1974

The best known Border marathon , the point-to-point and overall downhill Buffs race from Macleantown to East London , was run for the inaugural time on this day , with the win going to Gordon Shaw in 2:26:08 . He beat his nearest rival by one second short of twelve minutes , and went on to win the next two years , then two further victories , clocking 2:20:50 in 1978 to win by four seconds short of 13 minutes , and running a personal best 2:16:44 in 1983 ( with Bruce Fordyce finishing second ). John Hamlett , now a wellknown coach , was the champion in 1984 .

28 March 1993

South Africa ’ s oldest club marathon , the Jackie Gibson Marathon , was usually held in either April or August in its early years ( the first one in 1946 was won by Wally Hayward ). In 1993 , it was run in March for the first time and a well-judged race gave Livingstone Jabanga a comfortable victory by almost two and a half minutes over Mandla Mkhatshwa in 2:28:38 . Marietjie Montgomery had an even easier win in the women ’ s race – she prevailed by more than six minutes in 3:13:11 . The Jackie Gibson Marathon is named for the three-time SA Marathon champion who also finished eighth in the 1936 Olympic Marathon .

Frith van der Merwe

26 March 1994

Frith van der Merwe used the fourth running of the Om die Dam ultramarathon to smash the course record with her 3:21:31 , at that time the fifth-fastest 50km ever by a South African woman , and still the course record today . She broke Helene Joubert ’ s course record by more than eight minutes , but Joubert then came back and won the race five times consecutively . ( Joubert ’ s record of six wins was equalled only by Riana van Niekerk , but she never won more than two in a row ). On the men ’ s side , Lesotho ’ s Mohala Mohloli scored the second of his three victories .

About the Author

These stats and results are drawn from the weekly Distance Running Results mailer compiled by internationally acclaimed athletics statistician Riël Hauman , who has more than 50 years ’ experience as a journalist , author , publisher , commentator , pundit , administrator , event organiser , coach , team manager and runner in South African athletics , road running and cross country . He is also a former editor of the South African Athletics Annual , and author of two books , Hardloop en Lééf and Century of the Marathon 1896-1996 . To subscribe to his weekly newsletter , send him a mail at rielh @ mweb . co . za .

This section lists the best South African performance for each of the age categories over the most popular road distances . Note that the categories are not closed , i . e . athletes can be included in younger age categories if their times qualify .

OPEN VETERANS ( 40 +) MASTERS ( 50 +)

GRANDMASTERS ( 60 +) GREAT GRANDMASTERS ( 70 +) JUNIORS

25km 2:11:08a Debby de Koning

Pinetown , 30 Jan

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42.2km 3:48:25a Nancy Will

Simon ' s Town , 20 Feb

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KEY | * – Set en route over a longer distance . | a – course is aided , e . g . downhill or point-to-point , and therefore not record-legal

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